Geographic range
The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus) is an armadillo species endemic to Brazil, where it is known as tatu-bola (Portuguese pronunciation: [tɐˈtu ˈbɔlɐ], lit. ball armadillo). It is one of only two species of armadillo (the other is the southern three-banded armadillo) that can roll into a ball. It has suffered a 30% decline in population in the last 10 years.

Habitat

The Brazilian three-banded armadillo lives primarily in open savannahs and dry woodlands, where low rainfall and poor soil limit the vegetation to tall, woody grasses, scattered bushes, and gnarled trees. There is an abundance of cactus-like plants in the northern reaches of its range.[2]
Range

As its name suggests, the Brazilian three-banded armadillo is indigenous to Brazil, living primarily in the eastern part of the country, just south of the equator. They are rarely seen west of 50°W longitude.[2]

Diet

The main staples of its diet are ants and termites, which it can smell through up to eight inches (20 cm) of soil. It finds food by shuffling slowly along with its nose to the ground. When it detects prey, it frantically digs a hole and thrust its nose into it, using its long, sticky tongue to lap up any insects it may find. Other foods include mollusks, worms, fruit, and carrion.[2]

Anatomy

Brazilian three-banded armadillos weigh approximately 3.5 lbs (1.5 kg). They typically have a combined head and body length of 14–18 inches (35–45 cm) and a 2.5–3.5-inch (6–8-cm) tail, giving them a total length of 16.5–21.5 inches (41–53 cm). The armor is composed of ossified dermal scutes covered by nonoverlapping, keratinized epidermal scales, which are connected by flexible bands of skin. This armor covers the back, sides, head, tail, ears, and outside surfaces of the legs. The underside of the body and the inner surfaces of the legs have no armored protection, and are covered instead by long, coarse hair. The genus Tolypeutes, which includes both the Brazilian and southern species of three-banded armadillos, is unique in the ability to roll up in a tight, almost impenetrable ball. This is because their armor is slightly looser than that of other armadillo genera, which allows for greater freedom of movement. The loose armor also creates a layer of air between the shell and the body, which insulates the animal. This higher capacity for thermoregulation allows them to survive in climates too arid for some of the other armadillo species. When the armadillo rolls into a defensive ball, the ears are tucked into the shell and the head and tail interlock to seal the shell completely. The teeth are soft and peg-like, adapted solely for smashing the exoskeletons of insects.[2]

Behavior

Armadillos are chiefly solitary, but this species will occasionally travel in small family groups of up to three members. They are largely nocturnal, but have been known to forage during the day. All armadillos are spectacular diggers, but unlike most of the other species, three-banded armadillos do not dig in defense or to find shelter. They prefer to rest under bushes, rather than dig burrows, and their ability to roll into a ball makes defensive digging unnecessary. When they are not foraging, they move with a sort of trot, bouncing on the tips of their front toes, while their hind feet slap flatly on the ground. They mark their territories with secretions from glands on their face, feet, and rump. When threatened, they occasionally do not seal their armor completely, but wait until they are touched. They then quickly snap shut in an effort to startle the predator.[2]

Reproduction

The mating season lasts from October to January, during which there is a brief courtship before mating. The female carries the young for a gestation period of 120 days at the end of which single, blind offspring is born. The newborn’s armor is soft, but its claws are fully developed, and it can walk and roll into a ball within hours of birth. The armor hardens by the third or fourth week, around the same time the eyes and earflaps open. The young armadillo is weaned at 10 weeks and reaches sexual maturity at 9–12 months.[2]
Threats

The defense system of the Brazilian three-banded armadillo makes it safe from the majority of predators. Adult pumas are the only South American animals powerful enough to be a natural threat. The real danger to armadillos is the destruction of their habitats to make room for livestock.[2]

2014 World Cup mascot

The Caatinga Association, a Brazilian environmental NGO, launched in January 2012 a national campaign proposing the three-banded armadillo to become mascot of the 2014 World Cup. In March 2012, the Brazilian weekly, Veja, reported the three-banded armadillo would be the official mascot for the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil. Official announcement came in September 2012.[3]

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English
The Cerrado, (Portuguese/Spanish for “closed”) is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. The second largest of Brazil's major habitat types, after The Amazonia, the cerrado accounts for a full 21 percent of the country's land area (extending marginally into Paraguay and Bolivia).
The first detailed account of the Brazilian cerrados was provided by Danish botanist Eugene Warming (1892) in the book Lagoa Santa, in which he describes the main features of the cerrado vegetation in the state of Minas Gerais.
Since then vast amounts of research have proved that the Cerrado is one of the richest of all tropical savanna regions and has high levels of endemism. Characterized by enormous ranges of plant and animal biodiversity, World Wide Fund for Nature named it the biologically richest savanna in the world, with about 10,000 plant species and 10 endemic bird species. There are nearly 200 species of mammal in the Cerrado, though only 14 are endemic.
The cerrado climate is typical of the rather moister savanna regions of the world, with a semi-humid tropical climate. The cerrado is limited to two dominant seasons throughout the year, wet and dry. Average annual temperatures for the cerrado average between 22 and 27°C and average precipitation between 800–2000 mm for over 90% of the area. This ecoregion has a very strong dry season during the southern winter (approx. April– September).Cerrado vegetation of Brazil
The cerrado is characterized by unique vegetation types. It is composed of a shifting mosaic of habitat types with the savanna-like cerrado itself on well drained areas between strips of gallery forest (closed canopy tall forest) which occur along streams. Between the cerrado and the gallery forest is an area of vegetation known as the wet campo with distinct up and downslope borders where tree growth is inhibited due to wide seasonal fluctuations in the water table.
The savanna portion of the cerrado is heterogeneous in terms of canopy cover. Goodland (1971) divided the cerrado into four categories ranging from least to most canopy cover; campo sujo (herbaceous layer with occasional small trees about 3 m tall), campo cerrado (slightly higher density of trees about 4 m tall on average), cerrado sensu stricto (orchard-like vegetation with trees about 6 m high) and cerradao (canopy cover near 50% with general height 9 m).
Around 800 species of trees are probably found in the cerrado.[3] The most diverse families in the cerrado in terms of tree species include the Leguminosae (153), Malpighiaceae (46), Myrtaceae (43), Melastomataceae (32) and Rubiaceae (30). Much of the cerrado is dominated by the Vochysiaceae (23 species in the cerrado) due to the abundance of three species in the genus Qualea. The herbaceous layer usually reaches about 60 cm in height and is composed mainly of the Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Leguminosae, Compositae, Myrtaceae and Rubiaceae families. Much of the vegetation in the gallery forests is similar to nearby rainforest, however there are some endemic species found only in the cerrado gallery forests.
Soil fertility, fire regime and hydrology are thought to be most influential in determining cerrado vegetation. Cerrado soils are always well drained and most are oxisols with low pH and low calcium and magnesium. The amount of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus has been found to be positively correlated with tree trunk basal area in cerrado habitats. Fire is an important process in maintaining and shaping the cerrado landscape much like other grasslands and savannas. Many plants in the cerrado are fire adapted exhibiting characters like thick corky bark to withstand the heat.
Cerrado vegetation is believed to be ancient, stretching back perhaps as far in a prototypic form during the Cretaceous before Africa and South America separated. A dynamic expansion and contraction between cerrado and Amazonian forest has probably occurred historically, with expansion of the cerrado during glacial periods like the Pleistocene. These processes and the resulting fragmentation have probably contributed to the high species richness of the cerrado and Amazonian forest
The insects of the cerrado are relatively understudied. A yearlong survey of the cerrado at one reserve in Brazil found that the orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Isoptera accounted for 89.5% of all captures. The cerrado also supports high density of leaf cutter ant ("saúvas") nests (up to 4000 per hectare) which are also very diverse. Along with termites leaf cutter ants are the primary herbivores of the cerrado and play an important role in consuming and decomposing organic matter, as well as constituting an important food source to many other animal species. The highest diversity of galling insects (insects that build galls) in the world is also found in the cerrado, with the most species (46) found at the base of the Serro do Cipó in southeast Brazil.
The cerrado has a high diversity of vertebrates; 150 amphibian species, 120 reptile species, 837 bird species, and 161 mammal species have been recorded. Lizard diversity is generally thought to be relatively low in the cerrado compared to other areas like caatinga or lowland rainforest although one recent study found 57 species in one cerrado area with the high diversity driven by the availability of open habitat. Ameiva ameiva is the largest lizard found in the cerrado and is the most important lizard predator where it is found in the cerrado. There is a relatively high diversity of snakes in the cerrado (22-61 species, depending on site) with Colubridae being the richest family. The open nature of the cerrado vegetation most likely contributes to the high diversity of snakes. Information about cerrado amphibians is extremely limited, although the cerrado probably has a unique assemblage of species with some endemic to the region.
Most birds found in the Cerrado breed there although there are some Austral migrants (breed in temperate South America and winter in the Amazon basin) and Nearctic migrants (breed in temperate North America and winter in the Neotropics) that pass through. Most breeding birds in the Cerrado are found in more closed canopy areas like gallery forests although 27% of the birds breed only in open habitats and 21% breed in either open or closed habitats. Many of the birds in the cerrado, especially those found in closed forest, are related to species from the Atlantic rainforest and also the Amazon rainforest. The Crowned Solitary Eagle, Hyacinth Macaw, Toco Toucan, Buff-necked Ibis, Dwarf Tinamou, and Brazilian Merganser are examples of birds found in the Cerrado.
Gallery forests serve as primary habitat for most of the mammals in the cerrado, having more water, being protected from fires that sweep the landscape and having a more highly structured habitat. 11 mammals are endemic to the cerrado. Notable species include large herbivores like the Brazilian Tapir and Pampas Deer and large predators like the Maned Wolf, Cougar, Jaguar, Giant Otter, Ocelot and Jaguarundi. Although the diversity is much lower than in the adjacent Amazon and Atlantic Forest, several species of monkeys are present, including Black-striped Capuchin, Black Howler Monkey and Black-tufted Marmoset.